"The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." (Maya Angelou)

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Of Literature and Other Abstract Thoughts

One of my favourite tunes a few summers ago was Goldfrapp's 'Ooh La La' from their album 'Supernature'. The mix of synths and bass was superb and the video (you can watch it here, but do expect to be dazzled by the flashing lights and the white/silvery costumes) was a beautiful combination of glam-rock and disco. However, what I loved above all was the raunchy lyrics ('Switch me on/Turn me up/Don't want it Baudelaire/Just glitter lust/Switch me on/Turn me up/I want to touch you/You're just made for love') and especially the refrain with its: 'I need la la la la la la/I need ooh la la la la/I need la la la la la la/I need ooh la la la la'. There's no reason to wreck one's brain trying to figure out where the title of the song came from.

Lately, though, this song has been playing on my head for reasons other than its quality. Like its refrain, made for hedonistic, sweltering summer nights, the world of literature is awash with half-muttered thoughts, non-sensical text and pixieish innuendos. When it came to choosing a piece to illustrate my thesis tonight, I didn't have to think twice, for there is a poem that perfectly encapsulates the saucy 'I need ooh la la la la' attitude: ee cummings' 'may i feel said he' (his lower case in both the title and most of the poem).

'may i feel said he(i'll squeal said shejust once said he)it's fun said she(may i touch said hehow much said shea lot said he)why not said she(let's go said henot too far said shewhat's too far said hewhere you are said she)may i stay said hewhich way said shelike this said heif you kiss said shemay i move said heis it love said she)if you're willing said he(but you're killing said shebut it's life said hebut your wife said shenow said he)ow said she(tiptop said hedon't stop said sheoh no said he)go slow said she(cccome?said heummm said she)you're divine!said he(you are Mine said she)'

There are many elements on display here that make this poem innovative and traditional at the same time. The rhyming pattern is syntactically avantgarde, supported chiefly by the author's decision to alternate the personal pronouns 'he' and 'she' at the end of each verse. Secondly, the absence of punctuation shifts the responsibility onto the reader, to pause as and when he/she wishes. I tend to read it in the same way one would read a sonnet. Only that in this poem one is presented with sentences of four or five syllables each. That's where the traditional factor comes in. Although given a modern twist, this is a love poem above all. Sadly, it is thought that Cummings was describing an adulterous situation.

The 'I need ooh la la la la' approach is omnipresent in the poem. We don't know what made the woman change her mind after saying she would squeal if he touched her. We can only imagine. Likewise, when the author writes '(tiptop said he/don't stop said she/oh no said he)/go slow said she' we can only laugh as adults do when they're let in on a naughty joke.

The masterstroke, to me, is that capital 'm' in 'Mine' (that's how it appears on Poem Hunter) amidst a sea of lower-case letters. It subverts what was previously subversive tone and syntax. It leaves the reader with a half-chewed, non-sensical question floating above his/her head. I think that were ee cummings around today, he would probably be thinking analogue synths, disco beats, racy tunes and raunchy I need ooh la la la las.

I definitely read it as an adulterous poem. I didn't see a love connection but lust.

The capital 'M' was telling, I agree. Throughout the poem there's a feeling that he's in charge but in the end we realise that she's been in charge the whole time. That's how I read it anyway. The great thing about poetry is that it can be interpreted differently depending on where you put the stresses in your reading.

One of my favourite poems: it seems so simple but perfectly shows the complex game couples used to have to play in order to inject a little ooh la la into their lives. It reminds me, too, of Ray Carver's short story 'The Lie' which does something similar.

About Me

Look well to this day for it is life,
the very best of life. In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence, the joy of growth, the splendour of action, the glory of power. For yesterday is but a memory and tomorrow is only a vision. But today if well-lived makes every yesterday a memory of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day.
(Ancient Sanskrit Poem)